Collette Deviney awarded Star's 2012 Spirit of Freedom Award

Published: Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 10:13 AM.

While principal at Union Elementary School, Deviney pulled a little red wagon through the school for students to put in their pennies.

Deviney began the penny drive while principal at the school to raise money for United Way, making it more accessible for children to donate.

To help encourage her staff of 100 people at Union to donate, Deviney took them on tours of the battered women’s home during the school day.

"Collette is able to get people to see the need and help, without pressuring them," said United Way of Cleveland County President Bill Hooker.

Through her work with United Way, Deviney won United Way Leadership awards from 1997 to 2008 and is the chairperson of the 2012 United Way Board of Directors.

“Collette recognized how seeing is believing. During the work day, 60 folks toured the home,” Hooker said. “After the first tour, there were grocery bags full of donated goods that teachers had gathered. Another woman had tears in her eyes and took her lawn mower and cut the overgrown grass so children could play at the home. Collette enriched them and let them live up to their God-given potential.”

Every Christmas she loaded up her car with presents and left them anonymously at the homes of her students, who would otherwise go without.

She once tutored a student who was living on his own and working full time so his grades would be good enough to graduate and join the Army.

She talked to another student on the phone until he decided to put down the gun he had pointed at his own head.

In retirement, she has continued to devote her time and energy to children. Those who don't know her as an educator know her as a community leader whose passion and desire to help is contagious.

Her love for children has brought hundreds of volunteers together with kids in need through the annual event Connect, Commit to Change. Since 2010, the event has netted more than 500 commitments from volunteers, who have assisted helping agencies to provide a better future for county kids.

With her quiet demeanor and encouraging, warm way of communicating, Collette Deviney energizes people into wanting to help.

Because of her unwavering commitment to the community and Cleveland County's children and ability to encourage others to follow her lead, Deviney is The Star's 2012 Spirit of Freedom winner.

The Spirit of Freedom Award honors people who cherish freedom, believe in sharing, look for independent ways to solve problems, learn new things and try to do what is right, both personally and professionally.

'She has that uncanny ability...'

Deviney began educating children in 1975 as a teacher at Casar Elementary School. She later became the assistant principal at Burns High in 1987, principal at Union Elementary in 1995, adjunct instructor at Gardner-Webb University and principal at Burns High.

While working as an educator, she not only helped students raise their GPA, but also helped save the life of one student.

“A student called her up one night and told her that he was holding a gun to his head and asked what she was going to do to keep him from pulling the trigger,” her daughters, Robyn Houser and Apryl Peters, wrote in a letter to The Star. “She talked with him until late in the night and he ended up not pulling the trigger. She told us this as an example that God had good plans for everyone, if we could just hang on when times got rough and trust that He would come through.”

It was 20 years after the incident, they said, before she shared the story with them.

Deviney worked behind the scenes with students to ensure their success inside and outside of the classroom, said Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Bruce Boyles.

“She wanted to ensure that students were successful and graduated,” Boyles said. “She would meet with parents and help families with their financial situations, helping them find resources.”

Though she cared about her students and worked with them through hard times, Deviney didn’t bring work home with her.

“One thing she never did was to come home and talk about what happened at school," her daughters wrote. "We usually heard about other kids and things that happened from other people. Seldom did we know what was happening in her work life. Our time was our time, and she didn't bring it home. We knew there were other kids depending on her though, because she would get calls at all hours. We always sort of sensed that when some student ‘had to talk to her.’”

Her care was not confined to just the children at her schools. While Deviney was a principal at Burns High School, she personally cooked dinner for the security staff at ball games on Friday nights.

“She said if they came and worked, then they deserved a hot meal,” said Cleveland County Children's Home Director Margie Christopher. “She’s so good at the little things.”

“She has that uncanny ability to work with both younger children and young adults; on the elementary level and then on the high school level,” said George Litton of the Cleveland County School Board. “She has such a wide range of ability for communication, which, to me, stands out more than anything else.”

'She has always been a source of strength'

Robyn Houser remembers her mother helping others, even when she and her sister were in grade school.

“We would go with mom to the homes of some of her students and bring them baskets of food if they couldn't afford it,” Houser said. “Those students, parents and families are so dedicated to her. I see some of them today and they ask how she is.”

Houser also remembers her mother helping a high school student earn his driver’s license, despite him having problems reading.

“He had a hard time reading, but she would help him every day and take time with him to help him study so he could get his driver’s license," she said.

“She has always been there no matter what," said Houser, now herself a mother of teenage daughters. "We might not have done exactly what she wanted us to do, but she always helped, supported and encouraged us no matter what. ...She has always been a source of strength.”

Deviney's daughters said she always taught them by example and expressed to them that life was what they made of it and things would always work out as long as they did the right thing.

“She believed that service to others was one of the most important things she could teach us," they wrote. "A Christmas never passed that we didn't fill the car with presents and leave them anonymously at homes of needy children from her classes. They never knew where they came from. There were years when she would choose a couple families to support financially throughout the year, but she never wanted anyone to know about it.”

'Her want to help is contagious'

While principal at Union Elementary School, Deviney pulled a little red wagon through the school for students to put in their pennies.

Deviney began the penny drive while principal at the school to raise money for United Way, making it more accessible for children to donate.

To help encourage her staff of 100 people at Union to donate, Deviney took them on tours of the battered women’s home during the school day.

"Collette is able to get people to see the need and help, without pressuring them," said United Way of Cleveland County President Bill Hooker.

Through her work with United Way, Deviney won United Way Leadership awards from 1997 to 2008 and is the chairperson of the 2012 United Way Board of Directors.

“Collette recognized how seeing is believing. During the work day, 60 folks toured the home,” Hooker said. “After the first tour, there were grocery bags full of donated goods that teachers had gathered. Another woman had tears in her eyes and took her lawn mower and cut the overgrown grass so children could play at the home. Collette enriched them and let them live up to their God-given potential.”

Hooker himself has signed up to help with Connect, Commit to Change because of Deviney's lead. Hooker has made commitments for the past three years with the Children's Home, taking the children fishing, going bowling or throwing them birthday parties.

“Collette is not one to push things on to you. You don’t have to be around her for long, her want to help is contagious,” Hooker said. “With the commitments, you receive so much more than you give. The reward is huge. You see that it’s making a difference in their lives.”

'Collette embodies the principle of the Spirit of Freedom Award'

Along with Connect, Commit to Change, Deviney also helped former Shelby mayor Ted Alexander start Rural Experiences for Youth.

Rural Experiences for Youth is a program that takes children who live in the city to rural areas to see what it’s like on a farm. For many, it is their first time experiencing rural and farm life.

“I had been mulling the idea for a year or two about Rural Experience,” Alexander said. “The thing that got it off the ground was when I shared it with her. Her excitement and enthusiasm really sort of kick-started it. She gave it the muscle that it needed to move forward.”

“If there is anyone who has a concern about the direction and well-being of our community and its youth, she is it,” Alexander said. “Collette embodies the principle of the Spirit of Freedom Award. She is tremendous.”

Reach Jessica Pickens at 704-669-3332 or jpickens@shelbystar.com. Follow on Twitter at @StarJPickens.

Awards and Honors:

2012: Distinguished Woman Award from the Cleveland County Commission for Women

2012: United Way Board of Directors Chairman

2011: Received the Mayor’s 2011 Award for Outstanding Leadership as a Volunteer